.308WIN Speed vs Weight?

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Tikka223

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I'm going to buying myself a .308 at some point over the next few months in anticipation of hunting in the fall. I have some experience in reloading for the .308 and I've owned several, but typically I reload for precision shooting.

After reading a little in this forum and having just had a debate with a friend of mine about .223 vs 22-250, it got me thinking about the .308.

What do you folks think has the advantage when hunting? Lighter bullets (ex: 155 grain) flying faster, or heavier bullets flying a little slower (ex: 180 grain)? I currently have some 180gr Noslers on hand for a hunting load but now I'm wondering if I should be finding something lighter like a 155gr AMAX.

I'll be hunting deer, possibly bear, possibly moose.
 
When moohlah was tite a bunch of years ago, I elected to use 165's for the wee shooter and
the magnum.
Then I bought 150's for the little brother and haven't looked back.
 
for out past 100 yards, I stick with the 160ish grain nosler partition.
for the point blank hunting I go with 180+
this is with a 18.5" barrel tho, on my 300 yard and under deer rifle

that said, I've killed a few deer now with off the shelf 150gr federal blue box and they didn't seem to care either way and dispatched pretty much the same
 
I shoot heavier bullets for moose and bear and 150's for deer.... but that is out of different .308 rifles... if I was shooting only one rifle, I would just go with the 165/168's...

This is the same conversation for every cartridge... light speed vs heavy momentum... my personal belief is that each cartridge has an optimal range for bullet weights... for .308 Win it is 150-180 grains IMO.... for .30/06, I would increase that to 200 grains on the top end.
 
45ACPKING said:
for out past 100 yards, I stick with the 160ish grain nosler partition.
for the point blank hunting I go with 180+
this is with a 18.5" barrel tho, on my 300 yard and under deer rifle

that said, I've killed a few deer now with off the shelf 150gr federal blue box and they didn't seem to care either way and dispatched pretty much the same
Click to expand...

What kind of rifle are you using that has an 18.5" barrel?

I'm looking at a shorter barrel rifle too and I was wonder long how that would play on my speed vs weight debate.
 
tricked out 18.5" barrelled m14. (LRBm25)
I intend to do the same with my ruger scout which also has an 18.5" barrel
 
Tikka223 said:
What kind of rifle are you using that has an 18.5" barrel?

I'm looking at a shorter barrel rifle too...
Click to expand...

I have a Ruger M77 Frontier in .308 @ 16.5" and an M77 MKII RSI in .308 @ 18.5"... both are extremely handy and with good accuracy.
 
Deer are easy to kill, many fall to young shooters using a 243 Win with an 80-100 grain bullet, so pretty much "any" medium game bullet in a 308 would do the trick regardless of what speed it's travelling at (I personally shoot 85 grain hollow points or 87 grain SST's from my 243 for deer - it's enough in dense hardwood distances).

Black bears are almost as easy to kill as deer as long as you don't hit the shoulder bone with a lighter round - so again, typical medium weight bullets (read premiums not required) are all you need (since you are in NB you aren't going to see Griz).

Moose, while thicker skinned and heavier boned are also not difficult to kill - in fact I find Moose far less challenging than deer - moose (at least the eastern ones) will let you get quite close before they spook so you don't need to make uber-long shots.

For moose though I personally prefer a stouter bullet - not necessarily "heavier". I have typically hunted moose with a 30.06 shooting either 180 grain Partitions (pre-mid-80's) and then 180 grain A-Frames after they came on the market.

My hunting partner (for over 30 years now) flip-flops between a 270 Win (140 A-Frames) or a 308 Win (original 150 Scirocco, at least until he runs out) - yes, we are Swift fans, but only for Moose.

I don't really know for sure or care what "speed" they are travelling at and the deer/moose don't seem to know or care either.

Over the years I think he has take three or four moose with the 308/150 grain combo (far more of his moose have fallen to the 270/140 grain set-up).

This year I am loading 140 grain A-Frames for my (new) 7mm-08 and I don't load hot, so based on the data probably somewhere in the 2700 fps @ the muzzle which is more than fast enough, and the 140 will hit hard enough and penetrate far enough (without coming apart) to take Bullwinkle down at any distance up to 250 yards (which is about 150 yards further then we have ever had to shoot).

If you are "in it for speed" I would go with minimally a bonded bullet (Scirocco, Accubond, Interbond) or better yet a partition style, either Nosler or Swift A-Frame. At speed you can even go with the mono's (GMX, E-Tip, TTSX, TSX), although they are better suited to magnum impact speeds (to get the best expansion).

I don't see the need to load "heavy" bullets for eastern moose - 165 grains is about the heaviest I would go with the 308 and 150 has proven to be more than enough, at least the way (we) hunt moose.
 
galamb said:
Deer are easy to kill, many fall to young shooters using a 243 Win with an 80-100 grain bullet, so pretty much "any" medium game bullet in a 308 would do the trick regardless of what speed it's travelling at (I personally shoot 85 grain hollow points or 87 grain SST's from my 243 for deer - it's enough in dense hardwood distances).

Black bears are almost as easy to kill as deer as long as you don't hit the shoulder bone with a lighter round - so again, typical medium weight bullets (read premiums not required) are all you need (since you are in NB you aren't going to see Griz).

Moose, while thicker skinned and heavier boned are also not difficult to kill - in fact I find Moose far less challenging than deer - moose (at least the eastern ones) will let you get quite close before they spook so you don't need to make uber-long shots.

For moose though I personally prefer a stouter bullet - not necessarily "heavier". I have typically hunted moose with a 30.06 shooting either 180 grain Partitions (pre-mid-80's) and then 180 grain A-Frames after they came on the market.

My hunting partner (for over 30 years now) flip-flops between a 270 Win (140 A-Frames) or a 308 Win (original 150 Scirocco, at least until he runs out) - yes, we are Swift fans, but only for Moose.

I don't really know for sure or care what "speed" they are travelling at and the deer/moose don't seem to know or care either.

Over the years I think he has take three or four moose with the 308/150 grain combo (far more of his moose have fallen to the 270/140 grain set-up).

This year I am loading 140 grain A-Frames for my (new) 7mm-08 and I don't load hot, so based on the data probably somewhere in the 2700 fps @ the muzzle which is more than fast enough, and the 140 will hit hard enough and penetrate far enough (without coming apart) to take Bullwinkle down at any distance up to 250 yards (which is about 150 yards further then we have ever had to shoot).

If you are "in it for speed" I would go with minimally a bonded bullet (Scirocco, Accubond, Interbond) or better yet a partition style, either Nosler or Swift A-Frame. At speed you can even go with the mono's (GMX, E-Tip, TTSX, TSX), although they are better suited to magnum impact speeds (to get the best expansion).

I don't see the need to load "heavy" bullets for eastern moose - 165 grains is about the heaviest I would go with the 308 and 150 has proven to be more than enough, at least the way (we) hunt moose.
Click to expand...

This ^
 
One thought is that bullets like the Barnes TTSX punch above their weight, for example...in theory, a 150g TTSX has the same effect on game as a regular 165g bullet due to the weight retention and expansion characteristics of mono-metal bullets.
If this is true, you can sort of get the best of both in the "speed vs. weight" question...a fast moving 150g bullet that has the terminal performance of a heavier bullet.
Can anyone with actual experience with these mono-metal bullets verify this as true?
 
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I've loaded up some 130gr TTSXs in my finnlight. With a 20" barrel I'm getting 3170 fps. I'll see how they perform on bear next month. I've heard good things about the 130 TTSX in 30 cal and if it works for me it'll be my go to for everything.
 
The 165 is the best compromise in the 308 IMO. If you check the ballistics you will find they bear that out. Best compromise of velocity and energy. also happens to be the sweet spot for accuracy in my 308. It doesn't shoot 180's well. Carries well over distance too.
I use 165's for deer/bear/moose, no issues at all.

The '06 is better at 180's
 
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